September 13, 2018

"He was a preformed rut in my road," said Sally Field about Burt Reynolds.

In an interview on the occasion of not Reynolds's death but the publication of her memoir. Context:
I've always thought of him rather nostalgically. ... He was a very important part of my life, but for a tiny little part of my life. I was only with him for about three years and then maybe two years on-and-off after that. But it was so hugely important in my own existence, my own movement as a person.

I kind of was worried about him reading this — and now at least he's safe from that, because I think it would hurt him. It's not that I say really bad things about him, but I reveal ... what I was feeling and how trapped I was in an old pattern of behavior — and how I was predisposed. He was a preformed rut in my road.  And I couldn't see it coming and I didn't know how to get out. I had been carefully trained to fall into this. ... We were a perfect match of flaws.

78 comments:

traditionalguy said...

The Bandit was predestined to steal her heart.

Leland said...

Flaw is certainly a word to describe Sally Field. I'll give her credit for self awareness.

Humperdink said...

Some things in life should remain unsaid.

Rockeye said...

At least being "...on a road" implies that one moves past the rut. He could have been a spear-lined bearpit in the forest of devotion. Story of my life.

rhhardin said...

A furrow in my footpath
A groove in my gateway
An indentation in my ingress
A trough in my tunnel
A wheelmark in my way

rhhardin said...

It's hard to find an actually interesting actress. Think next morning breakfast.

Sandra Bullock could entertain you with perfect German and she's not bad at Japanese either.

Ralph L said...

I was right before--it's all about her, all the time.
Oh, it's a memoir!

Ralph L said...

Which one of them wanted to rut in the road?
Let me guess.

Shouting Thomas said...

Why don't we do it in the road?

David Begley said...

Translation: Read my book for the dirt on Burt.

Aren’t you rich enough already?

Kiss-and-tell is a bad quality. We don’t like you.

gilbar said...

in fairness, when people years later look back, they're going to say Sally Who? WAY before they say Burt?
Wasn't she a nun or something?

Ann Althouse said...

Apparently, rhhardin is into WWII reenactments at breakfast.

Ann Althouse said...

Based on the whole interview, I think the book is about how she was sexually abused as a child and it deeply affected her entire life.

rhhardin said...

Bullock did a German and then Japanese quip in Two Weeks Notice that was something of a high point of the comedy. She does speak perfect German. May have memorized the Japanese for the bit.

rhhardin said...

Being an actress deeply affected her life. Being the star changes to being the star of life pretty early. That's the reason not to date actresses. High maintenance and not much return.

Bob Boyd said...

The only thing worse than getting your heart broken is never having gotten your heart broken.
Well...maybe ass cancer would be worse...or having had all 4 limbs bitten off by a shark...or having a kidney stolen while you're on vacation...okay there are quite a few things worse, but still...

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

This is pretty damn good too.

Linda Bloodworth takes on Les Moonves

Wonder what Althouse would say about it.

Seeing Red said...

It sounds like he regretted losing her more than she regrets him.

MayBee said...

I don't know. Maybe you don't need to say everything. Is there anyone whose life will be improved by reading Sally Field's memoir about her feelings for Burt Reynolds?

rhhardin said...

I was going to say I watched a Sally Field last night but it turns out to have been Jodie Foster, on checking.

rhhardin said...

I have a lot of Sally Field DVDs. I thought it was only two or three. Twelve of them, one long ago gotten but not yet watched. I have a lot of DVDs in the latter category: the maybe but not today pile.

rhhardin said...

I was confusing Eye for an Eye (1996) with The Brave One (2007), both the female version of Death Wish.

FIDO said...

Sally Field advanced in the Hollywood industry the old fashioned way: A marginally attractive woman boned a mover and shaker long enough to get a few plum roles and get her profile raised and then cold heartedly dumped him. (The Sondra Locke Move)

That is certainly as credible a theory as any others here.

Lucien said...

“A spear-lined bearpit in the forest of devotion” gave me the morning’s first laugh.
Who says there are no more fresh metaphors?

Humperdink said...

So we have a new kiss and tell memoir. Maybe she could worm her way into the White House. The deep state is always looking for fresh blood.

Is there anyone left with any class?

RBE said...

.
Tacky. What is with her?

The Crack Emcee said...

OT but this sorta fits the quote: "When you integrate cow pie with apple pie, the cow pie is not made better, the apple pie is made worse."

tim maguire said...

I really want to say something worth reading about the relationship between Sally Fields and Burt Reynolds and how each of them has been cited as remembering it recently, now that Burt has died, but I'm afraid I can't. I can't think of anything to say that's worth reading.

The Crack Emcee said...

Ralph L said...

"I was right before--it's all about her, all the time."

"It's all about you, Dale, it's always been about you"

traditionalguy said...

My take on Burt is that he did his part in getting her out of the rut she was in. He did a catch and release. That respected where she was at and enabled her to get well and grow up to being free and normal like Burt molded to her
.

traditionalguy said...

Modled, not molded.

William said...

She got sexually abused by Jock Mahoney at a young age. Tarzan of the Toddlers. Who among us would not have been adversely affected if we had been molested by Tarzan?.... Is there anyone in Hollywood who is not either a victim, a victimizer, or an enabler? .....I think if Burt Reynolds had died sooner she would have remember him with greater fondness. Widowhood is responsible for a lot of happy marriages.......But there's always the chance that if she had waited too long, Burt could have written his own book of memoirs. Burt looks like the kind of guy that had been sexually abused by his football coach. That happens a lot, but mostly in Hollywood.

The Crack Emcee said...

Face it: He taught her how to drive.

William said...

Burt's rut was rutting. There's something rutting in the state of Hollywood.

Sebastian said...

"I didn't know how to get out. I had been carefully trained to fall into this."

Says another strong, autonomous woman.

Jupiter said...

"It's deeply ingrained and engraved in my psyche. ... I know how horrible it was for that little 17-year-old girl: How terrified I was and how I might have died. And I think of all the women all over the world who ... lose their lives, or their ability to have other children, or who are so deeply shamed because they live in a society or with a government that chooses to look at unwanted pregnancies in a certain light — that, first of all, [it] is the woman's fault and that the woman has no choice as to how this impacts her life. That the cluster of cells — if you catch it early — is more important than she is. That is horrifying to me. I know firsthand what that's like."

This is why we have Roe v. Wade. All those women of a certain age, who remember the hideous ordeal of the illegal abortions they or their friends had as teen-agers. Never mind that those abortions occurred in a totally different social milieu. My sister talks about how awful getting an illegal abortion was, in 1962, and how her daughter will never have to go through that, because women fought for their rights and won! I don't point out that neither her daughter nor her granddaughter availed themselves of this hard-won right when they got knocked up in their teens by some bonehead no one would even think of marrying, which is why she has her beloved great-granddaughter. Apparently the legality of abortion has decreased its attractiveness. Maybe we can get rid of it now.

Gordon Scott said...

rhHardin: Mia Farrow's father told her she shouldn't be an actress because he'd never met an actress that was not unhappy. He was a director, so he knew a lot of them, and he married Maureen O'Sullivan.

Then he died, and Maureen wandered off into the bottle, and Mia went to work modeling and acting to keep the family fed. She had great success as an actress, and then she got weird.

Unknown said...

Reynolds rutting sounds about right.

Darrell said...

RH Hardin should watch Oceans 8.
You'll get your Sandra Bullock fix.

Comanche Voter said...

There are lots of stones in the road of everyone's life. Maybe even an occasional rut with an exceptionally attractive member of the opposite (or in these days "some other") sex.

Ms. Fields has her tale to tell; as do we all towards the end of our lives. Will I buy her book? Will I care about her three to five years with Burt Reynolds? No more than I care about my three to five weeks with Suzy Q when I was 18 years old---or Betty Boop at age 28. Or even the affection I had for my dog Spot when I was a kid. It's her story; I'm more interested in reflecting on what happened in my own life. I suspect most of us feel that way about our individual lives.

dreams said...

Alas, Bert and Sally didn't live happily ever after.

William said...

Given the choice between reading the memoirs of Sally Field or Hillary Clinton, I would definitely opt for those of Sally Field.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

A rut. A crev-asse.

Michael K said...

I liked Sally Field in "Murphy's Romance." Other than "Forrest Gump," I don't think I have seen any of her other movies.

Jim Garner was more than half of the attraction of that movie.

Yancey Ward said...

Was Bill Clinton Hillary's rut in the road?

Rick said...

"rut in my road"

This seems an unfortunate choice of metaphor given their history.

tim in vermont said...

Ya gotta hand it to Burt, “he banged ‘em, banged ‘em all”. <<-- Not to go all Ed Driscoll on you, but I think that’s a movie reference.

Rosalyn C. said...

LOL @ "Apparently, rhhardin is into WWII reenactments at breakfast." In Morse Code.

ballyfager said...

Mia Farrow was horribly miscast as Daisy Buchanan. I think it says right in the book that Daisy was so beautiful, when she entered a room every male head would turn.

That ain't Mia Farrow folks. She may have good facial features. But she has as much sex appeal as Woody Allen.

tcrosse said...

Mia Farrow was horribly miscast as Daisy Buchanan. I think it says right in the book that Daisy was so beautiful, when she entered a room every male head would turn.

Hedy Lamarr was unavailable.

Howard said...

yeah, but Julie Christie was in her prime...

Ralph L said...

I'll wager the women looked too. Farrow looks washed out, plus there's the leftover Rosemary flavor.

How did Redford become known as a good actor, or is he just an old movie star?

One of my dad's Navy friends was an extra in that movie but got cancer and died soon after.

Otto said...

A small cheaply made non -weight bearing wall with a hole in the center who's only fuction was to allow lots of foreign object penetration. We are led to believe the cheap material was not the wall's doing but put there by a perverted construction engineer. Next.

Carter Wood said...

Jimmy Webb responds: "“Sally and I were young, successful stars in Hollywood. We dated and did what 22-year-olds did in the late 60s — we hung out, we smoked pot, we had sex,” he wrote in an email to The Times. He continued, “I have great memories of our times together and great respect for Sally — so much respect that I didn’t write about her in my book because I didn’t want to tarnish her Gidget image with our stories of drugs and sex.”"

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Sally was an incredible hottie, and Burt was a lucky man. I won't say anything about Jock Mahoney, except that I'm not sure I want to know.

Bill Peschel said...

"Wonder what Althouse would say about it. "

I read what Linda Bloodworth Thomason wrote. She kept silent despite repeated abuse by Moonves. She even refused to sue over fees due to her because of repeated cancellations of her show.

Only now that he's safely gone does she talk.

She was a Good Girl.

(Note: The Hollywood Reporter also closed comments on her article. They know how to protect their people.)

Freeman Hunt said...

What is the deal with Hollywood and sexual abuse? Geeze.

JMW Turner said...

Yeow...well my respect for tunesmith Jimmy Webb is up,up,and away. Take that Ms Snarky Sally!

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
hombre said...

The silliness and self importance of Sally Fields is exceeded only by that of Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats.

dwick said...

I don't like her - I really don't like her!

rcocean said...

Sympathy sells books. Say, you're an old movie star, rich and famous. Some women might be a tad jealous - and not buy your book.

But revel you'd be "sexually abused" as a young girl, 100 years ago, with everyone involved safely dead, except you.

Instant Sympathy from women from around the world. Plus, prurient interest.

But of course, Sally Fields is an actress and would never pretend.

rcocean said...

I liked Burt Reynolds but he always struck me as the sorta guy that would - occasionally - have a few too many, and maybe if his girlfriend pushed too far, would give her a slap.

Nothing serious, just to get the message across. And then, when he sobered up, would be very sorry and send her flowers, etc.

A sort of American Sean Connery.

rcocean said...

"Mia Farrow was horribly miscast as Daisy Buchanan. I think it says right in the book that Daisy was so beautiful, when she entered a room every male head would turn."

Mia had Sinatra, Woody Allen, and Previn. So she had something going for her. But that's in real life.

ON-screen, she was funny and a good actress. But "Daisy Buchanan" Beautiful? Nope.

tim in vermont said...

I think it says right in the book that Daisy was so beautiful, when she entered a room every male head would turn.

Yeah. Not as bad as Meryl Streep in what should have been a great movie with Rick Springfield and his very cool four piece band. I couldn’t figure out through the whole movie whether “Ricky” was supposed to be a witch who had slipped him some kind of love potion and the rest of the guys in the band just went along.

tim in vermont said...

I read what Linda Bloodworth Thomason wrote. She kept silent despite repeated abuse by Moonves.

Remember when she told “top Democrats” about Weinstein, but apparently not close Little Rock buddies and oft times dinner companions Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Still people are butt hurt (Oooh, rape joke!) that Hillary lost.

tim in vermont said...

So she had something going for her. But that’s in real life.

Daddy issues?

FullMoon said...

Based on the whole interview, I think the book is about how she was sexually abused as a child and it deeply affected her entire life.

Seems she felt empowered by the attention from and her encounters with her stepfather, not so much a victim.

William said...

Rooney Mara, Ellie Kemper, and Julia Louis Dreyfus all came from Daisy Buchanan type wealth. Rooney Mara has an ethereal quality that looks the way Fitzgerald reads. However, I think if you had encountered either Ellie Kemper or Julia Louis Dreyfus in a bee loud glade, they would be the ones you'd cast as Daisy.

McCackie said...

Just goes to show you can't trust females, they will stab you even in the grave.

Don't buy, just rent, especially with the improved electronic models being released. Also they are much greener, they require a lot less energy.

rhhardin said...

LOL @ "Apparently, rhhardin is into WWII reenactments at breakfast." In Morse Code.

It turns out that Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations is easier to copy at 45wpm than at 40wpm. Or it might be that 45 is on the home computer and 40 is on the bicycle. Background noise difference.

You do have to avoid room echos. They completely fill in the silences.

rhhardin said...

I liked Soap Dish (1991) but didn't particularly notice Sally Field as Sally Field.

rhhardin said...

167. Now what is there in the proposition that reading is a quite particular process? It presumably means that when we read *one* particular process takes place, which we recognize. - But suppose that I at one time read a sentence in print and at another write it in Morse code - is the mental process really the same? - On the other hand, however, there is certainly some uniformity in the experience of reading a page of print. For the process is a uniform one. And it is quite easy to understand that there is a difference between this process and one of, say, letting words occur to one at the sight of arbitrary marks. - For the mere look of a printed line is itself extremely characteristic - it present, that is, a quite special appearance, the letters all roughly the same size, akin in shape too, and always recurring; most of the words constantly repeated and enormously familiar to us, like well-known faces. - Think of the uneasiness we feel when the spelling of a word is changed. (And of the still stronger feelings that questions about the spelling of words have aroused.) Of course, not all signs have impressed themselves on us so *strongly*. A sign in the algebra of logic for instance can be replaced by any other one without exciting a strong reaction in us. -

rhhardin said...

That came up at random in the background, listening to Wittgenstein in morse code.

D 2 said...

"Preformed rut" does make the Other sound one dimensional. Does a rut change if you fall into it? Can it?

I prefer E Costello knowing that, in the end, a little self awareness goes a long way:

He thought he was the King of America
But it was just a boulevard of broken dreams
A trick they do with mirrors and with chemicals
The words of love in whispers
And the acts of love in screams
I wish that I could push a button
And talk in the past and not the present tense
And watch this lovin' feeling disappear
Like it was common sense
I was a fine idea at the time
Now I'm a brilliant mistake

glenn said...

Sally was so hot.

Unknown said...

"We were a perfect match of flaws."

Everybody should have one such love affair.